Police officer acted like 'sexual predator'

A police officer acted like a "sexual predator" and used his position of trust to "further his sexual ambitions", a court heard today.

Pc John Alan Forrester, 40, took advantage of women he came into contact with while carrying out his job as a neighbourhood police officer in north Liverpool, the city's Crown Court heard.

Forrester, from Halewood, Liverpool, is charged with four counts of misconduct in a public office in relation to engaging or attempting to engage three separate women in sexual activity.

He is also charged under the Data Protection Act with eight counts of accessing personal data on the police computer system, which involve a further two women.

Duncan Bould, opening the case on behalf of the prosecution, said: "The prosecution say there is a theme which runs through each of these 12 charges.

"In short, we say that he has used his professional position as a policeman to take advantage of females with whom he came into contact while doing his job.

"His motive, we say, was sexual."

Mr Bould said Forrester behaved in a "demonstrably sexual way" towards the alleged victims.

"His behaviour, we say, amounts to an abuse of the public's trust placed in him as a policeman."

He added: "This is the kind of behaviour that, were he not a serving police officer, all right minded people would think were the actions of a sexual predator."

Mr Bould told the court that Forrester was a man "obviously using the position of his office to try to further his sexual ambitions" with the women he met while doing his job.

The jury of six men and six women were told that the first victim, known as Woman A, alleged Forrester took advantage of her while she was drunk after he had dealt with an incident at her home in October 2008.

Mr Bould said the woman claims the defendant came back to her house in the early hours of the next morning and began "flirting" with her before kissing her, touching her sexually and then getting her to perform oral sex on him.

Woman A later reported the matter to social services.

It is also alleged Forrester later used the police computer "for no good reason" to look up personal information about her.

Mr Bould told the court Woman B first came into contact with the defendant in July 2009 when he attended an address to deal with a criminal damage incident.

It is alleged that when the two were alone he made "personal comments" about her breasts, asking if they were real and if he could feel them.

Woman B told subsequent police investigators she refused and Forrester continued to call on her.

The jury was told that on one occasion Forrester came into her home for a coffee and tried to kiss her after making a comment about her being tied to her metal bed.

Woman B told police she spurned his advances and that months later he "repeatedly phoned her" and then showed up on her doorstep when she refused to answer his calls.

Mr Bould said Forrester was "trying to get his foot in the door" and "impose himself upon her" but she resisted.

"The prosecution say it's criminally wrong to use your position as a police officer to try to facilitate sexual encounters in this way, let alone to actively have them," said Mr Bould.

The court heard that Woman C was a prostitute who was picked up by Forrester while he was on duty.

The court heard that the woman sat in the back of his police car and showed him her breasts after he told her he would like to "get a grip of them".

Woman C said the defendant did not actually touch her but that he did come back some months later and was recorded by his police car's on-board computer talking to her.

Mr Bould said: "He can be heard saying at one stage that he will 'never forget her breasts'."

It is also alleged that Forrester inappropriately accessed the police computer to get personal information about two other women.

Forrester, a police officer for 13 years, denies all the charges and says he had "policing reasons" to seek out the information on the police computer.

The trial is expected to go on for up to three weeks.

PA